Sugar makes you fat

[Smoove_B]

Eating too much makes you fat.

While I don't dispute the general sentiment, we've had the discussion here before -- and it has been suggested that all calories are not equal in terms of weight maintenance.

[Isgrimnur]

This playbook gets a lot of use:

The sugar industry paid scientists in the 1960s to downplay the link between sugar and heart disease and promote saturated fat as the culprit instead, newly released historical documents show.

The internal sugar industry documents, recently discovered by a researcher at the University of California, San Francisco, and published Monday in JAMA Internal Medicine, suggest that five decades of research into the role of nutrition and heart disease — including many of today’s dietary recommendations — may have been largely shaped by the sugar industry.
...
The documents show that a trade group called the Sugar Research Foundation, known today as the Sugar Association, paid three Harvard scientists the equivalent of about $50,000 in today’s dollars to publish a 1967 review of sugar, fat and heart research. The studies used in the review were handpicked by the sugar group, and the article, which was published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine, minimized the link between sugar and heart health and cast aspersions on the role of saturated fat.

The Harvard scientists and the sugar executives with whom they collaborated are no longer alive. One of the scientists who was paid by the sugar industry was D. Mark Hegsted, who went on to become the head of nutrition at the United States Department of Agriculture, where in 1977 he helped draft the forerunner to the federal government’s dietary guidelines. Another scientist was Fredrick J. Stare, the chairman of Harvard’s nutrition department.

In a statement responding to the JAMA report, the Sugar Association said that the 1967 review was published at a time when medical journals didn’t typically require researchers to disclose funding sources or potential financial conflicts of interest. The New England Journal of Medicine did not begin to require financial disclosures until 1984.

The industry “should have exercised greater transparency in all of its research activities,” the Sugar Association statement said. Even so, it defended industry-funded research as playing an important and informative role in scientific debate. It said that several decades of research had concluded that sugar “does not have a unique role in heart disease.”

The association also questioned the motives behind the new paper.

“Most concerning is the growing use of headline-baiting articles to trump quality scientific research,” the organization said. “We’re disappointed to see a journal of JAMA’s stature being drawn into this trend.”
...
Marion Nestle, a professor of nutrition, food studies and public health at New York University, wrote an editorial accompanying the new paper that said the documents provided “compelling evidence” that the sugar industry initiated research “expressly to exonerate sugar as a major risk factor for coronary heart disease.”
...
Last year, an article in The New York Times revealed that Coca-Cola, the world’s largest producer of sugary beverages, had provided millions of dollars in funding to researchers who sought to downplay the link between sugary drinks and obesity. In June, The Associated Press reported that candy makers were funding studies that claimed that children who eat candy tend to weigh less than those who don’t.

[McNutt]

I just started this thread and was shocked to discover that someone can drink a six-pack of Mountain Dew a day.

[Sudy]

Just relax the muscles in the throat and pour it back.

The sugar industry paid scientists in the 1960s to downplay the link between sugar and heart disease and promote saturated fat as the culprit instead, newly released historical documents show.

It can be hard to dismiss those who believe they're all out to get us when they're literally all out to get us.

[Isgrimnur]

I just started this thread and was shocked to discover that someone can drink a six-pack of Mountain Dew a day.

Back in the late part of last decade, I was drinking 2-3 20oz bottles/workday.

Now, I'm slugging down Kool-Aid from concentrate filled with Sucralose.

[Kraken]

Like most children, I had a ferocious sweet tooth back in the day, but my parents limited me to one bottle of cola per day. I think the bottles were 8 oz back then, too.

I outgrew it when I discovered beer in my mid teens and I seldom eat or drink sugar anymore, except as an ingredient in dressings and condiments and sauces and suchlike. During the summer I'll add half a packet to a glass of iced tea once or twice a week. Generally just don't like sweets anymore.

I owe most of my fat to fermented sugars.

[gilraen]

I just started this thread and was shocked to discover that someone can drink a six-pack of Mountain Dew a day.

I definitely *can* drink a 6-pack of Mtn Dew - but I know it's really bad for me, so I wouldn't (just like I wouldn't eat a box of chocolates or a pint of ice cream in one sitting). I don't have Rip's metabolism I treat Mountain Dew as I would dessert and basically allow myself one can in a day, as a treat.

[LordMortis]

I just started this thread and was shocked to discover that someone can drink a six-pack of Mountain Dew a day.

Back in the late part of last decade, I was drinking 2-3 20oz bottles/workday.

Now, I'm slugging down Kool-Aid from concentrate filled with Sucralose.

Long after my metabolism slowed down I was drinking 3 20 oz Cokes a work day and more when I got home. I have long since shut that down. I lost a lot weight. Like 30 pounds... Which I have since put back on for other reason. *sigh*

When I had a high metabolism and less of a reaction to Citric Acid, I'd drink two two liters or more of Mountain Dew during a D&D of session and no matter how much pizza we had, I'd always wish we had more.

[Holman]

I barely drink soft drinks at all. I'll probably have five or six cans of coca-cola/whatever in an entire year.

Where I need to cut out sugar is in coffee and in the form of honey. I love to drizzle honey on cut apples, or toast, or into a bowl of yogurt. Since I buy the groceries, I can't pretend I don't buy a bottle of honey far more often than I should.

[Kasey Chang]

I only drink diet coke nowadays, with occasional Wyler's lemonade or iced tea in single packs (should be sugar free, just add water).

I know I have pre-diabetes and I control my blood sugar by not eating too much rice or carbs.

[stessier]

Have you guys seen the studies that the diet products are worse than the full sugar varieties as the artificial sweeteners are short circuiting some pathway or other and actually making you eat/drink even more?

[El Guapo]

I should cut down on soda. I usually have like ~ 5 sodas / week (usually Coke Zero) most weeks. But the trick is that I need a good alternative source of caffeine - I don't like coffee, and most tea lacks sufficient punch.

[stessier]

The idea of surviving without caffeine is untenable?

I usually average about 32 oz of soda a week...a small when we go out to Saturday dinner and about a glass on Sunday (it takes about a month to go through a 2-liter). Usually it's water the rest of the time...except for breakfast, when it is 4-8 oz of orange juice.

[Holman]

In a typical week, the only things I drink are water, coffee (with sugar), milk (on cereal), and beer. Sometimes herbal tea, but that's really just water.

I'm working on cutting down two of those.

[El Guapo]

The idea of surviving without caffeine is untenable?

I usually average about 32 oz of soda a week...a small when we go out to Saturday dinner and about a glass on Sunday (it takes about a month to go through a 2-liter). Usually it's water the rest of the time...except for breakfast, when it is 4-8 oz of orange juice.

It's not untenable - I wouldn't die - it just would make the work week tougher and less pleasant.

[ImLawBoy]

Have you guys seen the studies that the diet products are worse than the full sugar varieties as the artificial sweeteners are short circuiting some pathway or other and actually making you eat/drink even more?

That's why I didn't even bother switching to diet drinks when I stopped drinking pop/sugary beverages. My beverage intake pretty much consists of water, coffee, and beer. Just the thought of drinking a Coke makes me a bit ill now - so much sugary sweetness coating my teeth. *shudder* Diet drinks are worse - they taste sweeter to me with the horrible artificial sweetener aftertaste.

[Kraken]

Have you guys seen the studies that the diet products are worse than the full sugar varieties as the artificial sweeteners are short circuiting some pathway or other and actually making you eat/drink even more?

That's why I didn't even bother switching to diet drinks when I stopped drinking pop/sugary beverages. My beverage intake pretty much consists of water, coffee, and beer. Just the thought of drinking a Coke makes me a bit ill now - so much sugary sweetness coating my teeth. *shudder* Diet drinks are worse - they taste sweeter to me with the horrible artificial sweetener aftertaste.

Pretty much the same for me, except that I drink a liter of diet soda with sucralose on Sober Sundays. I have not found a good beverage with zero calories and no caffeine (other than seltzer, which I drink in abundance) that can substitute for beer.

[Paingod]

I should cut down on soda. I usually have like ~ 5 sodas / week (usually Coke Zero) most weeks. But the trick is that I need a good alternative source of caffeine - I don't like coffee, and most tea lacks sufficient punch.

I drink exactly 2 liters of Diet Mountain Dew every day. I crack one open and refill a 1-liter bottle to take to work (along with a 24oz bottle of water), and then finish it when I get home, leaving about 4 hours before I go to bed to get decaffeinated. I've been a 'Dew drinker since I was 16 and switched to diet about 15 years ago. I've probably averaged 2 liters a day each day for 23 years; sometimes more, sometimes less.

I can quit drinking it and have done so several times in the past, sometimes for a month or more. It's not even the caffiene. After I adjust to not having it, my energy levels are pretty much the same as with it. I just find water so damn boring, and I don't like coffee or tea at all. I do drink water, just not a gallon a day. I don't drink anything alcoholic, so beer/wine/whisky are right out. Kind of limits my choices.

[LordMortis]

That's why I didn't even bother switching to diet drinks when I stopped drinking pop/sugary beverages. My beverage intake pretty much consists of water, coffee, and beer. Just the thought of drinking a Coke makes me a bit ill now - so much sugary sweetness coating my teeth. *shudder* Diet drinks are worse - they taste sweeter to me with the horrible artificial sweetener aftertaste.

I went nearly a year on a calorie restriction without any sort of pop. When I broke down and had one it was sooooooo good. It makes me fear that I will never find a distaste for cigarettes, no matter how many times I quit nor for how long.

[Kasey Chang]

Have you guys seen the studies that the diet products are worse than the full sugar varieties as the artificial sweeteners are short circuiting some pathway or other and actually making you eat/drink even more?

Yes, it needs further study, as the body's mechanism for regulating blood sugar is not fully understood. While the artificial sweetener don't have the calories, it is unsure how well it triggers the body's mechanism for absorbing sugar (and finding none) and there are theories that it can disturb the balance mechanism in the body if used for prolonged periods.

[Isgrimnur]

Not to mention the gut bacteria balance.

[MHS]

I've stopped with artificial sweetener altogether. I know sugar is poison for the body but the chemicals in diet drinks are literally poison, in most cases. I try to drink mostly water. I drink sweet tea and hot tea with sugar (mostly made from real tea bags, not processed teas which contain phosphates and potassium that I'm not supposed to have) and I drink a coke probably every 2-3 days.

But I eat way too much sugar. Big sweet tooth and I love anything sweet, plus I eat mostly carbs since protein isn't good for me. Fortunately, I'm fine (for now) with my glucose levels but I know I need to cut way back.

[Toe]

Have you guys seen the studies that the diet products are worse than the full sugar varieties as the artificial sweeteners are short circuiting some pathway or other and actually making you eat/drink even more?

Yeah, I have heard that, but for me, it does not really have that much an impact. I have 1 cup of coffee a day, with one packet of truvia in it. So would not matter if I used truvia or suger, I am not going to drink more coffee or eat less snacks. Same can be said for diet coke if I have one at lunch. I have one diet coke. Changing it to a regular coke is not going to change me from 2 plates of Chinese buffet to 1. So no impact there either I heard that it can mess with you if you intake both artificial sweetener and sugar at the same time, so I do try to avoid that scenario, especially before going to bed.

[Blackhawk]

I should cut down on soda. I usually have like ~ 5 sodas / week (usually Coke Zero) most weeks. But the trick is that I need a good alternative source of caffeine - I don't like coffee, and most tea lacks sufficient punch.

Coke Zero, 2.8mg caffeine/fluid oz.

Black tea, 5.2mg caffeine/fluid oz.

Lipton Iced Tea, 2.4mg caffeine/fluid oz.

That isn't that big of an adjustment.

[Blackhawk]

I gave up soft drinks years ago, and don't sweeten my tea. I don't have dessert very often, maybe once every two weeks. I don't even own loose sugar (or artificial sweeteners.) As a result, most sweet things are overpoweringly sweet.

I'm the same way with salt. I don't own a salt shaker. I haven't added salt to anything for years. Now salted foods taste like I'm licking a salt block.

I drink skim milk. When I first tried it, it tasted watered down, but I stuck with it for a while. Now when I drink 2% or whole milk, it tastes like I'm drinking a glass of oil.

It isn't that hard to get away from those types of things, as long as you're willing to give it a little while. Once you do, you'll be amazed at how overpowering the old stuff was.

[ImLawBoy]

I'm the same way with salt. I don't own a salt shaker. I haven't added salt to anything for years. Now salted foods taste like I'm licking a salt block.

Salt is an interesting one. When seasoned properly, you won't really taste the salt itself, and it does a lot to enhance the flavor of food. I've heard it said that the best route is to never put salt on top of your food, because then you're tasting salt on food. If it's incorporated properly into the preparation of your food, though, you shouldn't be tasting the salt - just better overall tasting food.

I drink skim milk. When I first tried it, it tasted watered down, but I stuck with it for a while. Now when I drink 2% or whole milk, it tastes like I'm drinking a glass of oil.

These studies change all the time, of course, but the recent thinking on dairy seems to be similar to sweeteners. The full fat stuff is better for you, as it doesn't create the same cravings as reduced fat does (similar to artificial sweeteners creating an ironic urge for more calories that leads to overeating). I really only have milk with cereal or as an ingredient in something, but we've switched over to whole milk (I used to do 1%).

[hitbyambulance]

I drink exactly 2 liters of Diet Mountain Dew every day. I crack one open and refill a 1-liter bottle to take to work (along with a 24oz bottle of water), and then finish it when I get home, leaving about 4 hours before I go to bed to get decaffeinated. I've been a 'Dew drinker since I was 16 and switched to diet about 15 years ago. I've probably averaged 2 liters a day each day for 23 years; sometimes more, sometimes less.

I can quit drinking it and have done so several times in the past, sometimes for a month or more. It's not even the caffiene. After I adjust to not having it, my energy levels are pretty much the same as with it. I just find water so damn boring, and I don't like coffee or tea at all. I do drink water, just not a gallon a day. I don't drink anything alcoholic, so beer/wine/whisky are right out. Kind of limits my choices.

as someone with the same issue (finding water to be boring), here's the solution that worked for me:

* flavored carbonated water (throughout the day, the kind without sweeteners - "natural flavors" or plain only. the lemon/lime doesn't seem as 'full' as Mtn. Dew when you first drink it, but acclimation comes sooner than later.)

* tea (one black tea in the AM, one or two green in early/mid PM, herbal/decaffeinated at night, oolong on the weekends. as i mention in my other tea thread, green has to be brewed properly - time and temperature - or it becomes too bitter. it doesn't hurt to become somewhat of a tea snob, as the basic bagged Lipton is near garbage - try loose leaf.)

not to say i've given up Mountain Dew completely, but i limit myself to a can or two a month now - trying to have it with meals that go well with it (like tofu kimchi fried rice)

[Paingod]

Now that you mention it, my wife has gotten some teas from Teavana that were pretty damn good.

I might try the flavored carbonated water. I think I had it once and was like "Well, I'm not 80 yet, so I'll skip this" and set it on a mental shelf next to prunes and oatmeal.

[FishPants]

Now that you mention it, my wife has gotten some teas from Teavana that were pretty damn good.

I might try the flavored carbonated water. I think I had it once and was like "Well, I'm not 80 yet, so I'll skip this" and set it on a mental shelf next to prunes and oatmeal.

I really like the lemon or lime Perrier, it's refreshing, no sugar and has a good flavour. The nestle pure life carbonated cans of water are pretty good too (cheaper, and also no sugar or sweeteners).

[hitbyambulance]

the Fred Meyer here has 2 liter bottles of unsweetened flavored carbonated water (Talking Rain and Cascade Ice) for $0.89.

you can also make your own home carbonator

[Moliere]

France enforces ban on unlimited fizzy drinks in crackdown on obesity

Restaurants in France face prosecution starting today if they offer unlimited soda drinks to customers in the latest Gallic crackdown on obesity.

France had already slapped a tax on sweet drinks in 2012. Now, a new decree makes it illegal to sell unlimited amounts of drinks with sugar or sweetener at a fixed price or for free.

Published in the government's Journal Officiel website on Thursday and in force since Friday, the ban applies to all soft drinks or soda "fountains" in areas open to the public, including restaurants, fast food-chains, schools and holiday camps.

[Blackhawk]

Thus creating the penny refill honor system.

[Isgrimnur]

[morlac]

In a typical week, the only things I drink are water, coffee (with sugar), milk (on cereal), and beer. Sometimes herbal tea, but that's really just water.

I'm working on cutting down two of those.

That's pretty much me except I only put a little sugar in work coffee(it sucks) when I forget my K cups. otherwise just half/half or a little milk in it.

[Jeff V]

In a typical week, the only things I drink are water, coffee (with sugar), milk (on cereal), and beer. Sometimes herbal tea, but that's really just water.

I'm working on cutting down two of those.

That's pretty much me except I only put a little sugar in work coffee(it sucks) when I forget my K cups. otherwise just half/half or a little milk in it.

I've successfully cut out two of those things (milk and herbal tea). Coffee, black, non-negotiable. And while I don't drink milk or herbal tea, I do rather enjoy a nightly bottle of wine and a can of Diet Dr Pepper with my lunch.

[Blackhawk]

I'm a tea drinker, hot mostly. Black, green, oolong, or whatever else is good, but never with sugar. I drink water, sometimes flavored, and I drink skim milk. That's it. I don't think I even own any sugar that isn't already in something.

[Kasey Chang]

I just started reading the nutrition book syndrome x. Basically, no starch, no sugar, no processed carbs. Eat nonstarch carbs, protein, and omega 3 fatty acids.

[Zork]

The book that opened my eyes was The Obesity Code. It was an easy read that explained the science behind why insulin is the major cause of "diabesity".

From a BMI-prespective, I have always been classified as overweight or obese (6'4" with my weight around 255lbs +/- 20lbs over the past 5 years). At my heaviest, I was 310 pounds about 20 years ago.

My fasting blood sugar values have been slowly rising over the years and at my most recent exam (about 8 months ago) my fasting blood sugar was over 100 for the first time in my life. I had also been suffering from other metabolic syndrome conditions: overweight, high blood pressure and low HDL (aka "good" cholesterol). I bought a blood pressure monitor and blood glucose monitor and started checking my blood pressure every few days and my blood sugar once a week.

Since adopting an intermittent fasting approach to eating in October, I have lost 25 pounds (from 253 down to 228) and my fasting blood sugar has come back down into the "normal" range (in the low 70s to high 80s).

I am surprised how easy the change to 8-hour eating has been. I almost feel like I'm cheating. I only eat between 12pm and 8pm with no snacks between meals and try to stick with LCHF (low carb, high fat) meals when possible but am not completely rigid on that.

For those of you that are type-2 diabetic or pre-diabetic or just want to lose weight, I would highly recommend reading The Obesity Code. You can also check out Dr. Jason Fung's Blog.

-Zork

[rshetts2]

I don't think I even own any sugar that isn't already in something.

Which is exactly where they get you. A teaspoon of sugar is 16 calories. As long as you use common sense and moderation its fine to add sugar to your cereal or tea. You can control added sugar. You can not control the sugar already in products. That's why I am trying very hard to wean myself off processed food and start cooking more from scratch.

[Kasey Chang]

My blood pressure is under control, but my fasting blood sugar is off the charts (180!) even though I avoided most carbs and my A1C is 9 (it was 7 about year and a half ago) I've changed my diet again, to avoid carbs altogether and I've just added Medformin to Glyburide. Hopefully I get on my meds for a week and see if my blood sugar goes down.

For those who need supplies... Dollar Diabetic Supply can give you a month's worth of supplies for $7 (1 test per day, lancets, meter, strips, no insurance needed) which is probably lower than drugstores or even prescription. I just ordered 3 months worth and I'm going to be sticking fingers daily.